


my worst brings out the best in you.

by Sagamohr



Series: i've got a bad feeling about this. [1]
Category: Monster Hunter (Video Games), Monster Hunter: World - Fandom
Genre: Established Relationship, F/M, Family Feels, Hunter Trauma, Night Terrors
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-13
Updated: 2020-01-13
Packaged: 2021-02-19 03:07:07
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,638
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22237555
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sagamohr/pseuds/Sagamohr
Summary: Valentyne didn't want to be a Hunter. She wanted to stay in the Old World, but there was no life for her there. Her cousin, Wren, had already completed his training and he was all the family he had left. Where Wren went, Val followed dutifully.Until she made it to Astera, where she met Luca and his grandfather.Now coming up on her one year anniversary since arriving at Astera, Val is still struggling to fit in and mesh with the people of Astera, to rub elbows with other Hunters, to keep her head above water. This is where her story starts.
Relationships: Field Team Leader (Monster Hunter)/Original Female Character(s), Original Female Character(s) & Original Male Character(s)
Series: i've got a bad feeling about this. [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1600714
Comments: 10
Kudos: 13





	1. i/ii

**Author's Note:**

> Yes, I'll return to the Thor series! Don't you worry. I need a short break to keep muse going, and I've wanted to write this little fic since I received the game for Christmas.
> 
> Big thank you to AngelsAvengeMe for her permission to use her MW:H OC, Wren!

Not for the first time, Valentyne woke up from a dead sleep gasping.

Only, she wasn’t completely awake.

Trapped in yet another night terror, her flask of night draught sat untouched on her shoddy bedside table, complete with a mini hatchet that she kept within arm’s reach.

Sweat dripped down her neck, and she swatted at the imaginary tails of the Jagras that whipped her, she yelped and ducked from the jaws that snapped at her from all around her. She was back in the Ancient Forest, trapped against a tall rock wall she couldn’t scale, the nearest tree too far to make a break to. The skinny, long tailed Jagras lurked, prowling, hissing with their sharp mouths. Fuck, why was she alone? Where exactly was she? Where was Wren, why wasn’t Ransom here? Tossing the blanket off of her legs she crashed into the floor, gasping, panting as she crab-crawled towards her weapons bin out of habit. Hatchets! Where were her hatchets!? She needed to get these fuckers away from her, now!

“ _Help me!_ ” She screamed, her back pressed against the side of her bed when she couldn’t find her hatchets, when her fingers wrapped around nothing but air. “They’re going to kill me!”

Of course, her screams alerted her roommates. “Meow-ster!” Ransom yowled, joining her at the base of her bed, his sharp claws digging into her thigh. Val yelped and kicked at him, half-crazed with the fresh revealed trauma, half-delirious from lack of sleep, thinking he was a bold Jagras. Shit, she had to get going, she had to _hide_ , the Great Jagras wouldn’t be far behind after hearing all of this commotion, and by the grace of the Sapphire Star, she couldn’t handle one of those right now! “Meow-ster, please!” Ransom continued, shaking her leg, trying to wake her up to no avail.

“Val!” Came an additional, half-familiar voice. Rosey-pink haired Wren, Valentyne’s cousin, another Fifth Fleet Hunter. 

Practically leaping from his bed, Wren knelt on the floor beside his cowering co-Hunter, reaching out to grab her, to shake her from the grip of the night terror. It was a bad one, one of the worst ones he had been witness to. Turning his gaze to the worried Palico, he set his mouth in a firm line. “Ransom, go get Eden, now.” Grabbing Val around the wrist he yanked her flat on her back onto the floor, pinning her wrists down onto the wooden floor to her sides. She sobbed, fear evident in the way her eyes flickered back and forth, in how her legs flailed. 

Wren knew she wasn’t seeing him, but the monsters she hunted, the ones that haunted her sleeping thoughts. He tightened his grip on her wrists, scared to do any more. She hadn’t been this bad in a long time. He looked over his shoulder at the door of their shared room, wincing when Val’s foot caught him high in the thigh. He wished Eden hadn’t agreed to sleep so far from them.

Eden was Val’s Handler. She slept in a room with a few of the other Handlers near the Canteen.

As the Palico was leaving, a thought sprang into his mouth. “Get the Chief Botanist, too!” Wren shouted to the retreating Palico’s back. He glanced up at the untouched drink, cursing himself. He should have reminded her to drink it, he shouldn’t have gone for that third Anjanath styled pint. “Valentyne, stop, you’re okay!” Wren told her, eyes narrowing as he ducked a wayward kick to the groin. She let out a hoarse, wordless scream. She was in the worst of her night terror now, she had to be. “Val, it’s me-”

“Move, take her wrists up there.” The Chief Botanist ordered from the top of the tiny platform that brought the room to the rest of Astera. His voice was firm, as it usually was when he was woken up in the dead of night. Wren noticed that in one hand he held a needle, filled with what he could only assume was either an awakening agent or maybe a direct dose of night draught. Either right at this moment would be fine, either would make the screaming and flailing stop. He was pointing with his other hand, directing with ease.

He surveyed the chaos, the way Wren held Valentyne’s wrists, the way her legs kicked freely. “Ach, I need someone to hold her legs,” He half grumbled, taking a step down into the small room made for the Hunter cousins. “I can’t inject her while she’s flailing like this.” Wren saw the look of pity cross his face. He knew first hand, that the Botanist carried a soft spot for his white-haired cousin.

“I’m here,” Came a new voice from the stairs. It was Luca, tailed by Eden and Ransom. 

Wren jerked his chin at Luca. “Come, take her wrists and I’ll grab her legs.” He nodded over Luca’s shoulder at Eden, who watched helplessly. She almost looked _guilty_.

Luca, the tall, broad-shouldered grandson to the Commander had fallen in love with Valentyne the minute she arrived bruised and bloody from the Old World. She and Eden had arrived a day late after their ship was attacked by Zorah Magdaros, and Wren had nearly driven himself mad with thoughts of having lost his cousin - his only family - forever. They had traversed in the Ancient Forest from almost one end of the island to the other, battling who knows what throughout their travels. A few hours of showing them around, and Luca was smitten. He sat with them at the Canteen for supper, gave Valentyne one on one weapon-wielding lessons… things that went noticed by the others, as they didn’t get the same treatment.

It wasn’t before long that Luca asked to court her. She agreed, and when they introduced the idea of it to the Commander, he had happily given them his blessing.

Luca knelt down by Valentyne’s head and quickly took her wrists, crossing her arms over her chest and drawing her thrashing torso up against his own. Wren dutifully held her legs down, his heart breaking as she sobbed. “I can’t, please.. P-please don’t!” Her voice raised in pitch, and Luca simply held her tighter, resting his chin on top of her head. Wren knew the hold they had on her would bruise her, but there was nothing they could do about that. He wanted nothing more than to take on her angst, to shelter her from the thoughts making her cry.

“You’re safe,” Luca spoke quietly, looking at the Botanist. “Val, you’re safe. You’re in your room with Wren, with the Botanist, with me.”

“I’m here too!” Eden piped up, and Ransom meowed from his spot, hugging Eden’s leg.

The Botanist knelt by her side, murmuring something to the Field Leader that the rosy-pink haired male couldn’t quite catch. Luca tightened his fingers around Val’s wrists and held onto her as the older, pointy-eared male jabbed her with the needle.

Almost instantaneously Valentyne stopped screaming, stopped crying. Her legs and arms went slack, and Luca moved quickly to stand, scooping her up into his arms. “Thank you.” He said to the Botanist. Wren moved to stand, narrowing his eyes only slightly.

“What did he give her?”

“A deep sleeping draught. She’ll fall further into sleep, but she won’t dream.” Explained the Botanist, wiping his hands before he brushed back a long strand of white hair from Val’s face. “She’ll sleep well past sunrise, and I’ll alert the Commander that she’s unable to partake in jobs until I or my colleague can deem her mentally capable of handling the stress.” He shot a look at Eden, who ducked her head. Wren wasn’t sure when she walked into the room. “Her _Handler_ should have kept better tabs.” With an icy tone, the Botanist left the room, heading back to his own quarters. Once the man had left, Eden surged in, running to take her place beside Luca and Wren.

Luca held Valentyne as if she weighed nothing, and only shifted her so his strapped hatchet wouldn’t bump her. “I didn’t know she still experienced such horrific night terrors.” He confessed. “I thought she was taking the draught.”

“She was,” Eden and Wren said together. They looked at one another before looking back at Luca and Val, lifeless in his arms. “After the Pukei-Pukei hunt, she said she wasn’t dreaming anymore,” Eden confessed. Wren looked at her, shocked. He remembered when they had returned to Astera. Valentyne had beamed, carrying the sachel of goodies, but she had been jumpy for the rest of the night. “She said that she was _better_ ,” She whimpered, guilty tears rising. “I believed her because I don’t sleep here anymore, and she was always early to the Canteen, I thought it was because she was rising with the sun…”

“She was early at the Canteen because wasn’t _sleeping_ at night,” Wren snapped. Now it all made sense. Luca grunted, shifted Val once again, and began to walk out of the room. “Luca, I’m sorry, I should have reminded her to take the night draught.” He said, shouldering past Eden, following the Field Leader out into the Tradeyard. He heard Ransom comfort her quietly, but he was far too annoyed with himself to give it much thought. “I put my pleasure in front of my cousin’s wellbeing, and that’s on me.”

“It’s not your fault she was hiding this from you, from her Handler, from me,” Luca said, taking Valentyne up the stairs towards his private quarters. “You know Valentyne doesn’t like talking about things like this.” Wren jogged ahead, pulling the heavy Anjanath fur blanket back to reveal the spacious room Luca had lived in almost all his life. He carried the white-haired female over to his bed, setting her down softly before he draped a blanket over it. “She’d rather internalize it and hide it before asking for help.” Wren saw the way Luca looked at his cousin. 

“I know,” Wren said softly. 

The room was filled with silence. Valentyne slept peacefully, silently. She looked so relaxed when she wasn’t fighting for her life against invisible monsters. Luca yawned, and Wren wrenched himself from his thoughts. “I better get back to my room.”

“You might have to pick up Val’s slack.” Said the Field Leader. “I don’t know when the Botanist will let her back into the field, and I also don’t know what she’s started or finished.”

Wren shrugged, realizing belatedly that it meant he’d have to speak with Eden. “I’ll be happy to take it on. It’s the least I can do.”

Luca nodded and turned to look at the male Valentyne openly adored. “She cares so much about you.” He told the younger male, giving him a rogue smile. “She talks about you a lot, how proud she is of you.”

The pink-haired male flushed. He never took compliments well, a trait that seemed to run in the family. “Well, I hope she knows I talk a lot about her, too. She’s one of the best Hunters I’ve ever worked with.”

Luca chuckled. “You two are family. Neither of you are allowed to hate one another.”

“I know,” Wren smirked. “But we’re allowed to get on one another’s nerves, right?”

“Absolutely.” 

Silence fell around the two men again, before Wren sighed, and started walking to the door once again. “Goodnight, Field Leader.”

“Goodnight Wren.”

“Take care of her.” He shot over his shoulder, holding the fur over. Luca half turned, giving him a single nod. A wordless promise. Without another thought, the younger male left his cousin in the care of her courting partner and headed back to his room.

Once Wren had gone, Luca sighed and took his shirt and spare hatchet off, draping it over the back of his chair on top of his sword handle. Having lived in Astera his entire life, with just his grandfather and parents, he was very much jealous of what Wren and Valentyne had. They were close, having grown up together in the Old World. They were able to talk to one another freely, able to hold jokes and chit chat without worry. That was probably why he tried to hard to be friends with Wren; he would never be able to forgive himself if he lost what he had been working so hard for because he was jealous. 

Shaking his head, Luca looked back at the bed where his beloved lay. He wanted more than anything to climb into bed with Valentyne, but he didn’t want to risk his grandfather walking in on them in the morning. They were courting, and would have to obtain his grandfather’s permission to one day, eventually wed the beautiful Hunter. Luca walked over to her side and swept her hair away from her face, leaning down to kiss her gently on the cheek while she slept.

Since he had placed her in his bed, he needed somewhere to sleep, and he wasn’t keen on finding solace in the bachelor hut under the Tradeyard. So, he dusted off his old hammock (after first unburying it from his trunk at the foot of his bed) and strung it up, hanging from a solid rafter a couple of feet off the ground. With a grunt the Field Leader climbed into it, carefully adjusting his weight so he wouldn’t flip himself out. Luca turned to face the bed and fell asleep a few minutes later, content with knowing that Val would sleep well into the next day.


	2. ii/ii

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ah, this was so much fun to write. I'm already starting on a sequel to it, oops.
> 
> Again, thank you to AngelsAvengeMe for letting me use Wren! _~Muah_

A soft paw on her cheek roused Valentyne from the dark, dreamless sleep.

Immediately she knew two things.

One: she had had a night terror.

Two: she wasn’t in her room anymore.

For a minute though, the unknown struck her terrified. Had she sleep walked here? Who had she woken up with her screams? Were they getting _that_ bad again? The warmth of a paw left her skin when she opened her eyes, looking at her Palico. “Meow-ster?” Ransom purred, stepping back from his Hunter master, tail tucked between his legs. He had removed his armour, it was back in the room he shared with Val and Wren. “Are you feeling well rested?”

Valentyne looked at her sweet, soft Palico friend. She gave him a sad smile, reaching over to scratch him between the ears. “Yes,” Val said quietly. “I’m feeling very well rested.” She could always count on Ransom to be at her side. He had been there when she suffered through the first bout of night terrors in training. He had held her hair back when they made her sick. Her stomach lurched. They hadn’t gotten to that point in a very long time, thank the Sapphire Star.

She moved to sit up, wincing at the dull ache that ran right up into her neck in her upper right arm. Pointedly she ran her fingers over the tiny bump the needle had left, and she sighed, embarrassed that she had let it go unchecked for too long. Ransom perked up, ears lifting as he gave her a toothy grin. “Eden’s waiting for you at the Canteen!” With that he dashed off, presumably to gear up. Gear up. She’d have to find Wren after she changed out of her bed clothes. She stretched, shook her hair out, and realized with a jolt that she wasn’t just in the tiny medical bay the Botanist had commissioned a few months prior, especially when the furs that covered the doorframe opened.

_She was in Luca’s private quarters_.

“Good morning,” came Luca’s soft voice. Val straightened her shoulders and lifted her chin, looking over to catch the eyes of her intended. It was stupid to pretend that she was fine, if she was fine she would be in her own room, not here. Not here in Luca’s bed. She knew he knew, now. Ransom must have told him she was awake on his way to get geared up. “You look rested.” He continued, casually, as if he hadn’t seen her at her worst just twelve short hours ago.

“I need to speak to the Commander. I have quests I’m behind on, I need to gather my weapons, my rations-” Valentyne rapid fired off, pulling her shoulder length white hair back with a stringy piece of discarded leather. Luca walked down into the pit of his room, a steady pace until he reached Val.

His hands came up, gently taking her by the shoulders. “Commander has suspended you from active duty until the Botanist can clear you.” 

“Eden’s waiting for me at the Canteen, I can’t let her down.” Val replied, as if she hadn’t heard him. Move on, just keep moving on, one foot in front of the other.

Luca squeezed her firmly, enough to make her pause in her attempt to squirm away. “Eden’s been suspended, too.”

The Hunter threw her arms up to dislodge Luca’s grip, scowling. “Why has Eden been suspended? She’s got nothing to do with this.” Val demanded, pacing the length of her Field Leader’s bed. She had slept here, where had he slept? Probably with the so-called Bachelor’s under the Tradeyard. Crossing her arms over her chest she moved to sit on the edge of the bed. Eden was suspended too? Why? This didn’t make sense.

It was sad, and frustrating, watching Val flip flop between acting fine and acting like she knew better than him. But he had dealt with this side of her for just under a year now, this was nothing new to the Field Leader. Watching her carefully, knowing that this was simply who she was: protective of the ones she cared about, Luca moved so he could stand in front of her. “Eden wasn’t following orders. Neither were you.” He gently reached out to touch her cheek, but she jerked her head away from his touch. “The Botanist explained that you need to continue to drink the night draught to avoid those night terrors.” Luca continued, but her dodge stung him. “He had explained that to you, _and_ to Eden when you first began having them.”

“I was taking it,” Val defended herself with a snap, but Luca shook his head.

“You stopped taking them, and stopped taking them enough that you started having these terrors again.”

“I stopped taking them because they knocked me out, I was rising too late in the morning!”

“Then you should have come to me, or gone to the Botanist-”

Val let out a harsh laugh, and ran her hand through her hair, wincing when she caught her fingers on a knot. “And have him up the dosage? Or change it? I can’t mess around with that _stuff_ , Luca. I can’t let it affect me in the field.” She said, half distracted with untangling the knot of hair.

Luca narrowed his eyes slightly, and with careful consideration he moved to sit to her left, joining her on the bed. “Affect you in the field?” He repeated.

She waved her hand. “I would get groggy and disoriented, generally after we travelled long distances. Didn’t matter what I ate or if we stopped so I could nap.” Val said, the anger that had flared diminishing slowly. She looked down at her feet, dragging her big toe along a bump in the floor. “Eden said she had spoken to the Botanist when we got back, but he didn’t change the draught. I’d still get disoriented on quests, I still lost… minutes of the day not realizing where I was.”

The Field Leader bit the corner of his lip, about to speak when Ransom returned in full kit, tailed by Wren. 

“Val!” Wren half-shouted, about to launch himself at his cousin before he stopped, realizing belatedly that Val and Luca were talking. “Oh, I’m sorry, I should have asked to come in first.” Ransom was leaning against Val’s leg, purring, watching the two humans with wide bright eyes.

Luca shook his head, plastering a smile on his face. Typical. “It’s okay. I was just checking in on Val. I better head out, I have some chores to attend to.” He stood slowly, bending once he was up to gently cupped Valentyne’s jaw. He leaned down, kissing her soundly. “We’ll have supper together, alright?” ‘ _We’ll finish this conversation then, too_.’ 

Val nodded, smiling even though she didn’t feel like smiling. “I can’t wait.” She told him softly, and watching as he left, his touch hot and familiar against the curve of her throat. He nodded, gave Ransom a rough pet on the top of his head, before he headed out, easing past Wren who took the departure of the Field Leader as an invitation to go into his room. 

He joined Val on the bed, sitting impossibly close to her, giving her shoulder a nudge. “I think he likes you, _kasegi_.” Ducking a swat from his cousin, Wren laughed, hoping to make things normal for her. He could only imagine what Luca had told her. “C’mon, let’s head back to the room and get ready. Eden’s already complaining.” The pink haired male rolled his eyes with a grin, and Val laughed. He rose first, taking Val by the wrist and yanked her up to stand. “First one to the room gets that massive Jyuratodus tooth!”

Val pushed Wren to the side, hard, grinning. “See you there, _kasegi_!” She shouted over her shoulder, taking off for the room.

“Cheater!” Wren laughed, giving chase to the now running Hunter. Ransom yowled, following his two Hunters.

* * *

Later, when Wren had been sent off on a Quest to cull some more Kestodon numbers popping up in the far east corner of the Ancient Forest, Val sat poking at a platter of fish. Typical job, something Val could have done with her eyes closed. She sat lonely at the Canteen, the Commander’s words ringing in her head. ‘ _Off-duty until cleared. No arguments_.’ Val looked up the Commander as a father figure, and she knew how disappointed he was in her for letting her ‘condition’ return to the way it had. He had been the first person to step in and see if there could be something done for her night terrors, right after Luca had flung the idea across the table. Now they were back, worse than before, and it was her own fault.

_Of course_ the Commander was disappointed in her.

The sound of a chair scraping against the floor made Valentyne jump, a portion of her fishy platter falling to the floor. Ransom was there in a flash to scoop it up, but hesitated in giving it back to his Master, instead looking between the two humans with an expectant look. 

“Sorry,” Luca apologized, taking a seat. Val looked to her Palico, gave him a nod, and looked back at her boyfriend as Ransom stuffed the fish piece into his mouth. “I didn’t mean to startle you.” He said, moving to pop one of Valentyne’s roasted cherry tomatoes into his mouth, as his own platter of meat arrived just a few minutes later. 

Ryori, the Felyne chef, rumbled in his chest when he saw that Val hadn’t eaten. He nudged her, pointing with a curled, extended claw. She shook her head at him, giving him a weak smile. “I’m eating, just slowly.” Ryori, not completely sold, sent a heated gaze to Luca. The Field Leader nodded, looking over his pint at the white haired Hunter. “I’ll get her to eat, Chef. Don’t worry.” Barely satisfied with his answer, the Palico grumbled and wandered back to the cooking hub, giving the two humans their space. Ransom smacked his lips after devouring the fish, and scampered back to order himself a small plate.

Valentyne heaved a sigh. “So, when can I see the Botanist?”

Luca jammed his fork into a slab of meat, lifting it to his mouth. “Whenever you like, but you realize he’s not here right now, right?”

“ _What!?_ ”

“He’s out in the Field.” Luca explained, mouth full of meat. “With Wren, they’re on a capture expedition.” He paused, swallowed, and motioned with his fork to her platter. “Eat.”

Valentyne leaned back, looking at the Field Leader with a cross look, pointedly putting her fork down on the table. “You _knew_ he was going out tonight. _That’s_ why you haven’t bothered to stop me! He won’t be here to help.”

Luca, caught, shrugged then nodded, downing another piece of meat while Ransom returned with his own platter. “He said with Wren he should be back in two days tops.” He motioned to the Palico, as if this conversation was one he has had a thousand times before. Ransom picked up the steaming prawn-like mass, passing it to the human. “He said he left a lighter draught for you with Brona. It should help.”

Agitated, Valentyne stabbed her fork into the side of her pink fish meat, tearing it away to pop it into her mouth. Two whole days? Who knows if he would even want to pull an exam on her when he got back! She stabbed her fork into the meat again, only this time she didn’t quite force it fully into the fish. Again, the thought of just remaining on the Old World rushed to the surface, and she smothered it down. There was no use in longing for a past that no longer existed. Val ate another piece of fish, sighing to herself as she reached across the table to take a drink from her pint.

She didn’t always want to be a Hunter, she had once upon a time avoided being picked, avoided being drafted into training. When Wren had volunteered to go, to become a Hunter - (‘ _An A lister!_ ’) - Val felt like she had no choice. Wren was the only family she had left; wherever he went, she followed, no questions asked.

Being stuck in Astera while Wren fought monsters out wherever he was, was an annoyance she didn’t think she would ever feel.

“So, I mentioned the side effects you were experiencing in the field to the Botanist.” Luca started, pausing to take a drink. “The new draught he made before he left should hopefully stop those. Of course, we won’t know until you’re cleared, but if you start taking it now, we’ll be able to see if you’re experiencing grogginess around the Tradeyard while you’re off duty.” He lifted his gaze, noticing that she was eating while he spoke. “I’ll be around as much as I can. Eden’s around too, and she’s been filled in on what’s going on.”

Val put her fork down, full, but she knew if Ryori saw her still half-full plate, the Felyne wouldn’t let her leave. “I should have told her sooner.” She said quietly.

“You should have, but that doesn’t matter now.” Luca told her, reaching across her platter to put his hand over hers. “What matters now is that we get you back to tip top shape. When the Botanist comes back, we’ll see him together, and we’ll handle his results when they come, alright?”

The Hunter looked at her Field Leader, smiling now. This wasn’t the first time Luca had made her feel special, had made her feel like she was more than just a face in a growing number of Hunters. “I adore you.”

Leaning over, Luca pressed his mouth to hers, a smile tugging at the corner of his mouth. “I love you, too.”

Ryori growled from his perch near the oven, and the two humans pulled apart like caught teenagers, faces pink. The bulky Palico grunted, satisfied that they would get back to eating now. He ignored Val’s giggles as he started preparing vegetables and meat for the next wave of hungry Hunters coming through, a knowing half smirk on his furry little face.


End file.
